NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.8 S

I haven´t bought a 50mm lens since my Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 D for my DSLR´s. Since I had a ´´D´´ I knew it wouldn´t auto-focus on my Z7 even with the FTZ, and there are certain lenses for the Z that simply demand stepping up to the future with the best (S series) lens possible for 46MP. Next on my list will be saving for the 70-200mm f/2.8 S series in the native Z mount. That´s going to take some convincing the wife ;)

As a full-time wedding and portrait photographer as well as a cinematographer for the past 12 years, I have been well acquainted with and have owned a number of Nikon lenses. Many of them have been really good. This 50mm 1.8 lens is just mind-blowing good. At 1.8 it is by far the sharpest 50mm I have used from Nikon and handily beats other brands out in terms of flare resistance. The new coatings they are using on these lenses are no joke, the color and light transmission is just superb. I expect all the S lenses for the Z series cameras to live up to this expectation. The 50mm in terms of color, contrast and flare resistance are a step ahead of G series lense. Nikon may take a while to enter into new markets and methods but they do it for a reason. Nikon is hitting it out of the park with these S lenses.

I was skeptical in purchasing a prime 50mm for my Z6 with 1.8 because I thought it wouldn´t be fast enough. However, the noise at the higher ISO settings was surprisingly minimal. It is extremely sharp and the Eye Detection AF is amazing! This has become my favorite lens.

Love this lens for walk around use. Very sharp from center all the way out to edges. This lens coupled with my Z7 makes for a light package that can be held all day. Highly recommend this lens!

For a trip to Minneapolis I carried only the 50 1.8 as a test of its capabilities and my skills. The Z6 and this lens produced stunning results. I was a sort of ´´street photographer´´ in the Mall and challenged the no-zoom of the lens with some shots I knew I would have to crop to get the detail I wanted. Wonderful! Got it all and then some.
I´ve had Nikons starting with film and then D90 up through he D7000s and through a D500. The Z series prime lenses will deliver outstanding results.

I got the Nikon Z system coming from Fujifilm and have not regretted the move, this lens is one of the reasons, it´s an exceptional 50mm f/1.8 lens. It´s incredibly sharp across the frame, the bokeh is pleasant in most situation, it´s reasonably light (but not small) and overall a pleasure to use.

On the other hand, I was hoping for a nifty fifty at half the price and half the size. Sure, probably not as good, but when I look across systems, other manufacturers do have lenses that cost a lot less, are much smaller and still deliver about 90% of the image quality once stopped down just one stop. I hope Nikon will add a non-S 50mm to the lineup to cover this.

In the meantime this lens will serve me well, deliver incredible results, at least as long as I´m willing to lug it around as a companion to the f/4 zooms. It works great in combination with these, but as soon as you´re on the 2.8 version, it just doesn´t make much sense anymore. It would have to be faster or smaller to bring something new to the table in this case.

One suggestion to Nikon: I wish the multi-function ring was ´´clicky´´. My guess is that 99% of the users would want to use it for either ISO, exposure comp or aperture. For every one of these use cases it would be better as a clicked ring. The MF switch could de-click it for manual focus if really needed. Canon has done better there in terms of ´´usability for most´´ with their clicked multi-function ring.

The NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.8 S delivers everything that you would expect from Nikon and their long history of offering the highest quality optical lenses. The NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.8 S is a nice upgrade to it´s F mount equivalent and offeres better edge sharpness, better contract, less lens flaring, and the focusing motor is virtually silent.

The Z mount 50mm f/1.8 S is a terrific lens and has elevated the idea of the standard nifty fifty.

I have to admit I was reluctant to start with a fixed focal length lens when I bought the Z-7, but the 24-70 wasn´t available in its f2.8 form yet. Reflecting back, my first film camera had a 50mm and I learned much about photography using that lens -- and so I opted to begin using my Z-7with the 50mm 1.8. I am really happy I did this - this lens pairs well with the Z body and produces great results.

Using this lens required me to be more thoughtful when framing my subject and to adjust my distance to the subject rather than zoom -- but that is certainly a nit compared to the results you get.

What everyone else here describes in terms of sharpness and bokeh is what I´ve experienced as well. This is a great 50mm 1.8 lens.